This is a frivolous "guide" to parenting. This book would be infinitely funnier to a parent who has raised a child and ever wanted to just throw up their hands and run away.

It comes with crappy pictures and a whole lot of stories about crap. ( )

There was some funny, funny stuff in here. I didn't ever read the blog so it was all new to me. It can be very comforting that some of the hard things about parenting are universal. The chapter on traveling with the kids is not to be missed. ( )

Probably not recommended for people without children...which I am. However, based on things I've heard from people with children, this hit the nail on the head. Very funny, and groan-worthy! ( )

Some cartoonists, such as Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), modestly insist they can't draw at all. Others -- and I'm thinking here of Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half) and the guy who came up with XKCD -- just quietly run with the fact that so far as comic art is concerned, they're really good writers.

And then there's Amber Dusick. She can't draw. At ALL. And she's a strong believer in truth in advertising. Hence her blog, which can be found at crappypictures.com, and her new book, Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.

Other than the crappy art, this is pretty much just another funny book about how hard it is to be a mom. If you already know this and you suffer from a surfeit of crappy drawings, you can skip reading this.

If you're young and anxious and need some confirmation from a sympathetic source that yes, this gig is a PITA, grab this book. Every mother should be told that "Sleep when the baby sleeps" is the lamest advice ever (it doesn't work with the first baby because you're too busy marveling over the fact that you have a baby, and it doesn't work with successive babies because you now have other kids, who are NOT sleeping when the baby sleeps). And no, you're not the only mother who doesn't get as much sleep as you should because once the kids are in bed, holy crap! The kids are down! You're up! You can actually do something by yourself!

Dusick mostly tells readers stuff like this, in pretty much so many words. Every once in a while, her writing nudges into comic brilliance with lines like "Changing a diaper in an airplane bathroom is like changing a diaper inside an empty refrigerator that a drunk person is pushing around on a dolly." And the art itself is occasionally hilarious, such as her drawing of the dashboard of a faulty rental car (it's all in red, and right above the speedometer are the words "WARNING! This car is going to self-destruct!").

This book would make an excellent gift for someone who just had her first child. It's funny, it's light enough to hold while she's feeding the baby, and it won't strain her powers of concentration, which will be shot for the next few years. ( )

Laugh-out-loud hilarious, never pessimistic or mean-spirited and you can read it in under an hour. What’s not to like? ( )